Eric Cox

Several local business owners spoke, including Eric Cox, owner of Cox's Pub in Lafayette.Cox said he's opposed to a ban in Lafayette and disputes claims the ban in West Lafayette hasn't had a negative impact.

"I'm getting triple the business (from students) I've gotten in 12 years of business because they can smoke," Cox said.

Resident Lyle Youngblood is opposed to the ban.Like Cox's customers, he has chosen to minimize the businesses he patronizes in West Lafayette because of the smoking ban.

Eric " Cox

Eric Cox

Cox's also has been a home to a full lunch and dinner menu with steaks, sandwiches, soups and salads.

A few weeks ago, Cox's, 2401 Schuyler Ave., also put together a breakfast menu, and the bar and grill began opening at 6 a.m.

The morning menu is full of American breakfast favorites including steak and eggs, large omelets and the Sunrise Special of eggs, biscuits and gravy, hash browns, toast or English muffin, and bacon, ham or sausage.Early birds also can get a half-pound Mongo Burger, grilled tenderloin or Turkey Club.

"We get a lot of third shifters," said Cox's owner Eric Cox."Six a.m. is like their dinner time."

The bar opens at 7 a.m. with specials on Screwdrivers and Bloody Marys.

Cox said food at Lafayette's mom and pop pubs are one of the dining scene's best-kept secrets.He added few know the dinner menu at Cox's offers filet mignon ($15.95), Grilled Chicken ($10.95) and the Phil-A-Buster, which contains a half-slab of ribs, 8-ounce sirloin steak and a skewer of grilled shrimp for $22.95.The dish is named after the late Phil Cox, Eric's father and founder of Cox's.

"My dad was a big guy, and those were some of his favorites," Eric Cox said.

The elder Cox's memory also is found on Phil's Chicken sandwich, which comes with ham and cheese.

"That's a sandwich he made back in the day," Cox said."It's almost like a deep-fried cordon bleu."

Other sandwiches are named after Cox's employees.The top choices are Dawn's Philly with au jus dipping sauce, Julie's Smothered Chicken with mushrooms, bacon, onions and mozzarella cheese, S. Lee's Whaler fish sandwich and Chris' Monster Breaded Loin.

The dinner specials are popular, Cox said.

Eric Cox

owner, Cox's Pub > >

Eric Cox, owner of Cox's Pub, couldn't be reached for this story.
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Rather, it was only after Cox decided to ban the women from his establishment on Feb. 18 that they looked for redress from the law, they wrote.
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The complaints state that Cox shut the doors on them after a visit from Citizens for Civil Rights on Feb. 14.

A representative of the local group went there to find out if the owner indeed had a rule that prohibits homosexuals from slow dancing with each other, the women say.Several of the women said Cox had mistakenly assumed that they had complained to Citizens for Civil Rights.
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Cox has decided to readmit all of the banned women to the pub except her, she said.

"I have no idea why," she said.

Eric CoxCox, Eric